Neville Wran

Australian Politician and Premier of New South Wales

Male

BornOct 11, 1926

Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 1986 to 1991.… Read More

News + Updates

' The Sydney Morning Herald Harriet Wran leaves Silverwater jail after serving sentence connected with drug death The Sydney Morning Herald Harriet Wran, the daughter of former NSW premier <mark>Neville Wran</mark>, has left the jail that she says saved her life. Wran, 28, emerged from Silverwater jail just after 7am on Tuesday and was driven out of the complex in a silver Audi with her mother Jill ... Harriet Wran released from jailNEWS.com.au Wran walks free from jaildailytelegraph.com.au...

' The Sydney Morning Herald Harriet Wran set to walk free from Silverwater jail The Sydney Morning Herald Harriet Wran, the daughter of late former premier <mark>Neville Wran</mark>, is set to walk free from Silverwater jail within days afternoon after being granted parole. The NSW State Parole Authority granted her release at a private hearing at Parramatta on Friday. Harriet Wran has been granted paroleNEWS.com.au Harriet Wran to be released on parole after two years in jail over drug dea...

' Sydney Morning Herald Harriet Wran and her father <mark>Neville Wran</mark> in 2011. Photo: Lee Besford Sydney Morning Herald \"Not guilty, Your Honour,\" Harriet Wran said three times in a clear voice in a grey room at Silverwater\'s women\'s jail. The daughter of the late NSW premier <mark>Neville Wran</mark> appeared via video link in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, charged with murder, ... Wran pleads not guilty to murderThe Australian (blog) Harriet Wran pleads not guilty to murder ...

'For those who were under a rock or in a mobile-free zone, the stories on the front pages of the Herald and The Sun-Herald the weekend before last outlined a rift between Jill Hickson and <mark>Neville Wran</mark> over her belief he has a form of dementia'

Timeline

CHILDHOOD

TEENAGE

194619 Years Old
Wran's first marriage was in 1946 at the age of 20, to Marcia Oliver, a showgirl at the New Tivoli Theatre.
… Read More

Oliver had a young son, whom Wran adopted, and they had one other child, a daughter. Read Less

TWENTIES

194821 Years Old
Wran was born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington, the eighth and last child of Joseph Wran and his wife Lillian (née Langley). He was educated at Nicholson Street Public School, Balmain, Fort Street Boys High and the University of Sydney, where he was a member of the Liberal Club, and from which he gained a Bachelor of Laws in 1948.

195124 Years Old
He was admitted as a solicitor in 1951, called to the Bar in 1957, and became a Queen's Counsel in 1968.

FORTIES

197043 Years Old
Wran began his political career in 1970 when he became a member of the upper house of the Parliament of New South Wales, the Legislative Council.
… Read More

Three years afterwards, he moved to the lower house, the Legislative Assembly, in the seat of Bass Hill. Support for this move had been organised by the General Secretary of the FMWU, Ray Gietzelt. He then challenged Pat Hills for the state leadership of the ALP (which Hills had held since 1968). In this challenge he had cross-faction support from right-wing powerbroker John Ducker and left-winger Jack Ferguson. There were two rounds to the leadership vote which resulted in a tie between Hills and Wran in the second ballot. However it was ruled that in the event of a tie in the second ballot, the candidate who won the most votes in the first ballot would be the winner. Since Wran had won one vote more than Hills in the first ballot, Wran was therefore declared the new leader. Read Less

In May 1976, six months after Gough Whitlam's federal ALP government's dismissal, Wran led Labor to victory, narrowly defeating the Liberal Party premier, Sir Eric Willis.
… Read More

Wran's win was not assured until it became clear that Gosford and Hurstville had fallen to Labor by only 74 and 44 votes respectively, giving Wran a one-seat majority. In 1978, campaigning with the slogan "Wran's our Man", his government won a 13-seat swing on the back of the largest primary vote for any party in a century, popularly known as the "Wranslide". The Opposition Leader on that occasion, Peter Coleman, lost his seat. In 1981, Wran won a second "Wranslide", picking up six seats for what was then Labor's largest proportion of seats in Parliament. The Opposition Leader, Bruce McDonald, failed to be elected to the seat that he contested, marking the second time in a row that an Opposition Leader had failed to be elected to Parliament. Labor also reduced the Liberals to 14 seats, the same as its nominal junior partner, the National Country Party. He won a fourth term in 1984; although he suffered an 11-seat swing, he still won a larger majority than any of the victories won by the Liberals' Sir Robert Askin in the 1960s and 1970s. Read Less

In 1976, a month after his divorce was finalised and three months after becoming Premier of New South Wales, Wran married Jill Hickson, and they had two children together.

FIFTIES

197750 Years Old
In 1977, Wran supported Al Grassby, former Federal Immigration Minister, in allowing Domenico Barbaro, a Mafia figure in the Griffith region of New South Wales, back into Australia after having been earlier deported because of his criminal record.
… Read More

However, as journalist David Hickie explains, Wran attempted to undermine the influence of organised crime, particularly in the area of illegal casinos.<br /><br /> Wran was also very popular, at one stage rating over 80 per cent approval in opinion polls. He was often talked about as a national political leader and rated highly in national polls as an alternative Labor Leader to Bill Hayden. Read Less

Neville Kenneth Wran AC CNZM QC (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. Read Less

He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 1986 to 1991.

He featured in Hayden's 1980 federal election campaign, along with Bob Hawke.
… Read More

Wran was a Labor premier at a time when most Australian governments were held by conservative coalitions. During his 10 years as Premier of New South Wales, the government embarked on a program of reform and change. Priorities were public transport (with the exception of the Warringah Transport Corridor which was cancelled despite a recommendation by Justice Michael Kirby that it be built), the environment, consumer protection and job creation. He also achieved significant electoral institutional reform such as a democratic Legislative Council, four-year terms, public funding and disclosure laws and a pecuniary interests register for members of parliament. He called on Edwin Lusher, firstly while a QC and then as a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, to chair commissions of inquiry into police administration and gambling. He also undertook the state's largest capital works program and refurbished many iconic places in Sydney. His government also built the modern-day Darling Harbour precinct. Read Less

198356 Years Old
In 1983, Wran faced the Street Royal Commission over claims by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs show Four Corners that he had tried to influence the magistracy over the 1977 committal of Kevin Humphreys, who had been charged with misappropriation of funds.
… Read More

His Corrective Services Minister, Rex Jackson, was jailed in 1987 for accepting bribes for the early release of prisoners. Read Less

198457 Years Old
In 1984, Neville Wran introduced a private members bill to decriminalise adult gay male sex, and the bill passed the NSW Parliament.
… Read More

This was the first time in recorded history a conscience vote was both introduced and passed by the NSW Parliament. Read Less

198659 Years Old
Wran resigned both the premiership and his seat in Parliament on 4 July 1986, after continuously holding office longer than any other premier in the history of New South Wales until that time.
… Read More

Bob Carr has since broken that record. (Henry Parkes served longer than either Wran or Carr in total, serving five terms between 1872 and 1891.) The by-election for Wran's seat of Bass Hill was narrowly won by Michael Owen for the Liberal Party. Wran is remembered by the phrase "Balmain boys don't cry". Read Less

The ABC report notes that "There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by either Mr Turnbull or Mr Wran."<br /><br /> Biographies Read Less

200679 Years Old
Wran and Hickson separated several times, first briefly in 2006, then in August 2011 after Hickson said she had been "frozen out" of her husband's personal affairs by his daughter Kim and his friend and business partner Albert Wong.
… Read More

They had reconciled by December 2011.<br /><br /> A severe throat infection in 1980 required injections of teflon to strengthen his damaged vocal cords, resulting in his characteristic croaky voice. Read Less

201285 Years Old
In his later years, Wran had dementia and from July 2012 had been under special care at the Lulworth House aged care facility in Elizabeth Bay.

201488 Years Old
He died there on 20 April 2014 at the age of 87. He was survived by his wife Jill and four children. A state funeral was held at the Sydney Town Hall on 1 May 2014.